Ron Howard will be leaving his mark on a galaxy far far away when “Solo: A Star Wars Story” hits theaters next week, but Howard has worked with Lucasfilm before. Back in 1988, Howard directed the epic fantasy film “Willow” and now he has confirmed that there have actually been discussions on making a sequel to the cult classic.
Nearly three decades to the day later, Howard is talking about the possibility of a sequel and what direction the potential film might go in. Howard reveals that the story for the sequel would focus on the character Elora Danan, the infant that Willow comes across in the original film.
“I don’t want to give away too much, but there is a little talk of Willow. We wouldn’t call it Willow 2, I think it would focus a lot on Elora Danan, although Willow would have to be significantly involved.” Howard told ComicBook.com in a recent interview.
George Lucas produced the film which starred Val Kilmer as the mercenary Madmartigan and Warwick Davis as Willow. Davis played the eponymous lead character and hero: a reluctant farmer who plays a critical role in protecting a special baby from a tyrannical queen who vows to destroy her and take over the world.
In the interview Howard also said that experience informed a lot of his decisions while working on the Han Solo spinoff movie.
“I thought about that movie a lot as I was working on Solo because there are certain scenes, especially around some of the Madmartigan stuff, was reminiscent of a character with that kind of swagger and bravado. And also some of the humor around some of the action in Willow was something I inspired to get into Solo.”
Of course there is no word yet on if these talks will actually lead to film development, but for fans of the film its great news. Howard has teased a Willow sequel in the past, but with the slew of remakes and reboots that Hollywood is seeing it seems like the timing couldn’t be better. The film was anything but a flop as it raked more than $57 million at the box office domestically. It’s a classic 80’s movie and if you haven’t seen it then you should check it out.
For now while we ponder if this fantasy will become a reality, fans can see Howard’s latest film Solo: A Star Wars Story in theaters on May 25th.